BMI In Schizophrenia Patients Associated With C-reactive Protein

Elevated BMI in patients with schizophrenia may lead to increased inflammation.

Body mass index (BMI) in patients with schizophrenia is linked to C-reactive protein (CRP), according to a study presented at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting 2017, held May 20-24 in San Diego, California.

Rutvik P. Choksi, MD, MPH, and colleagues evaluated 39 participants with schizophrenia, diagnosed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview version 5.0, to examine the association between BMI and schizophrenia.

Since schizophrenia has been associated with increased BMI, and CRP is correlated with BMI in individuals without schizophrenia, the link between CRP and schizophrenia needed to be evaluated.

The researchers gathered fasting blood, plasma CRP measured via ELISA testing, and BMI from each participant. Data from 4 participants was reported missing and was not included in the analysis.

Pearson correlational analysis was used to determine the link between BMI and log CRP. The researchers noted that “the distribution of CRP was right-skewed, and logarithmic transformation was done to normalize the data,” according to the study.

The results state that BMI was positively correlated to log CRP (r=0.387; P =.022). This result persisted after controlling for age, sex, race, and education.

With these findings, elevated BMI in patients with schizophrenia may lead to increased inflammation. “Since elevated inflammation has been associated with negative outcomes such as worsening cognition, cardiovascular complications and accelerated aging, the findings of this study provide further justification for supporting the evaluation of interventions targeted at reducing BMI in patients with schizophrenia,” write the researchers.

Given the high risk for metabolic disorder and type 2 diabetes, clinicians should select psychotropic medications carefully and monitor metabolic conditions regularly in their patients with serious mental illness.

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